The clever furniture developer

Text by DETAIL - Zeitschrift für Architektur + Baudetail
München, Germany
12.02.18

As the company name suggests, Randers + Radius was established in 2012 following the merger of two companies, and can thus look back on a total of 60 years’ experience in high-quality designer furniture for the contract market – a good foundation for questioning things, testing alternative materials and initiating new processes.

Mood 4 Legs. Photo: Randers + Radius

Niels Kastrup and Lars Andersen have been creating and selling tables and chairs for 20 years – initially mainly in the Scandinavian market and the USA, but now worldwide, with a strong focus also on Germany and Switzerland. “The acquisition of the traditional family-owned company Randers a few years ago allowed us to make good progress in these countries”, explains Niels Kastrup in an interview. “Randers already had a good market presence in the region, as well as a number of products that ideally complement our portfolio. The Flex table range for conference, seminar and meeting rooms, canteens and halls in particular was a perfect match for us. But the designs for Grip, which we then developed further, were also promising.”

Interesting and also slightly unusual is the development process that Randers + Radius’ new products undergo. Since the company focuses strongly on the contract sector, visiting architectural offices and entering into dialogue with planners is very important. New ideas for areas of usage, design, colour and material selection are constantly emerging from the discussions, which can even call into question a design process that has already been initiated. The example of the Dry and Tono chairs illustrates this very well. Dry is a particularly comfortable chair with a polyurethane seat-shell that adapts to the user’s individual needs thanks to the flexibility of the material, and represents a perfect combination of comfort and suitability for everyday use. Tono, on the other hand, focuses on sustainability. With a wooden frame and a felt seat-shell made out of recycled PET bottles, this is a particularly innovative chair that has been created for the contract market, and includes sound-absorbing properties.

Tube Fold Table with Mood Chairs (top), Detail of Dry Chair (middle), Tono Chairs and Grip Table (above). Photos: Randers + Radius

Recent developments include Tube. While the name Randers has been synonymous with high quality and multifunctional folding tables for decades, Tube takes this product line to the next level. An aluminium frame with a completely new folding mechanism has been developed, which is easy to operate by one person with just the touch of a button. An unobtrusive design also guarantees a wide range of application and combination possibilities.

Mood Conference Chair. Photo: Randers + Radius